Railway car door structure



*April 29, 1941. f F.1HERTER 2,240,115 RAILWAY` CAR DooR s'mucrulusfy A Filed Aug. 14, 1939 6 sheets-sheet' 1 iqf'" WMI/ MIL

F. J. HERTE'RV RAILWAY CAR 'Donn s'rnuc'rugm April 29, 1941.

, Filed Aug. 14, 1939 e Sheets-sheet 2 y f2 vg/M April 29, 1941- F. J. HER'TER 2,240,115:l

RAILWAY om noon s'rnucrunr:

Filed Aug.. 14, 1959 .e sheets-sheet s April 29, 1941. F. J, HERTER 2,240,115,

RAILWAY CAR DOOR 'STRUCTURE Filed Aug. 14, 1939 6 Sheets-Sheet In ven or April 29, 1941. F. J. HERTER 2,240,115

lRAILWAY CAR Doon STRUCTURE Filed Aug. 14, 1939 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 'will i April 29, 1941. F. J. Hr-:RTr-:R

'RAILWAY lCAR' DOOR STRUCTURE Filed Aug. 14, Y1959 e sheets-sen e Patented Apr. 29, 11941l UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

The invention relates to the mounting of doors intended to be moved in their general plane from closed position to open position and vice Versa about a pivot as distinguished from so-called sliding doors in which the successive positions of the side and -top and bottom members are parallel.

In the accompanying drawings and in the following description the invention is illustrated as applied to a railroad house car side door but it will be understood that this disclosure is illustrative only and the structure as shown, or with suitable modifications, may be applied to garages,

warehouses or other buildings as well as to rail- Y Way cars.

The main object of the invention is to support the door by a simple, eiective economical mounting whereby the door will be adequately supported in closed or open position.

Another object of Ithe invention is to arrange a door, pivoted as described, so that it will be balanced at all times throughout the extent of its movement and thereby reduce to a minimum the efforts for opening and closing the door.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pivoted door of this type With an effective weather seal about its edges when closed so as to prevent the passage of dirt, moisture and other injurious elements to the interior of a car or building.

Other detailed objects oi the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a part of a railway house `car body equipped with a pivoted side door, the door and its mounting being shown in closed position in full linesl and in open position in broken lines.

Figures 2 and 4 are vertical transverse sections taken on the corresponding section lines of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a horizontal cross section taken on the line 3 3 of Figure l.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail view of the lower left hand corner of the door and its locking structure, with the parts in a different position than that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view corresponding generally to Figure 1 but showing the door in a position intermediate fully closed and fully open positions.

Figures l and 8 correspond to Figures 1 and 6 but illustrate a modified form of pivotal mounting for the door. v

Figure 9 corresponds to Figure 1 but illustrates another type of mounting for the door in which Vthe relative positions of the pivotal connections to the car body are reversed.

Figure 10 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line IU--Ill of Figure 9. Figure 11 corresponds generally to Figure 1 but illustrates a structure in which the pivotal connection between the car lbody and the door is ata lower corner Vof the door instead of at an upper corner.

Figures 12 and 13 are detailed vertical transverse sections taken on the corresponding section lines of Figure 1l.

Figure 14 is a detailed elevation of the door locking mechanism shown in Figure 11 but drawn to an enlarged scale and with. the parts moved to a diierent position.

Figure 15 is a detailed View drawn to an enlarged scale and illustrating the door pivot connection.

Figure 16,l is a side elevation of the upper right hand corner of the door and associated Wall structure embodyingv another form of the invention.

Figure 17 is a detail section taken on the line II-Ilof Figure 16.

The car body shown in Figures l to 6 inclusive may include the usual side sills I, iioor 2, door posts 3, fillers 4, inner and outer sheathing 5 and 6, side plates 'I, roof sheets 8. The door has a Z bar frame including top and bottom elements 9 and I0, front and rear elements II and I2, panel plates I3 stiiened by corrugations I4 and a channel shaped reinforcing panel I5 extending between front and rear Z bars I I and I2. To the extent indicated the door is of conventional construction and may be modified as desired.

A `bracket I6 is secured to the upper right hand corner of the door and projects rearwardly oi the doo-r. A cooperating bracket Il is mounted on side plate I and has spaced jaws I8 arranged to receive between them the projecting portion of bracket I6. The latter is slotted at I9 to receive a pivot pin 20 seated in jaws I8.

v Bracket Il has another pair of jaws 2| positioned above jaws IS and seating a pin 22 which pivotally mounts a rod 23 which extends downwardly and forwardly and at its lower end has a shoulder 24 which seats a coil spring 25 supporting a sleeve 2S, the lower end of which is pivotally connected at 21 to a Vbracket 28 on door member I5, thus forming a balancing arm hold ing the door against free swinging about pivot 2d.

Brackets I6 and I'I and elements 22, 23, 'is

and 26 support the door stably in full open or closed positions. The door may be swung downwardly and rearwardly from the position shown in full lines in Figure l to that shown in Figure 6 and then to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1. As the door is moved downwardly about pin 2D as a pivot, slot i9 permits the adjacent corner of the door to rise, avoiding additional compression of spring which wholly supports the door in the intermediate position. rilhis eliminates the necessity of using any substantial force to open the door as would be required if the door movement resulted in the compression of spring 25.

When the door assumes the dot and dash line position shown in Figure l, it is turned 90 in its general plane from the closed position and has moved clear of the door opening and no part of be inserted through holes provided therefor in the locking dog and the shoulder.

When the door is to be opened, dog 44 is moved to releasing position and lever 39 is rotated in clockwise direction to thrust the door away from its tightly closed position, overcoming any frictional engagement of the door by the overlapping weather seal elements.

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate another form of the invention in which the brackets 50 and 5l are pivotally connected by pin 52 but neither of the brackets are slotted. Accordingly when the door moves from the position shown in Figure 7 to the position shown in Figure 8 spring 53 on balancing arm 54 will bel compressed, and when the door is moved to either side of the position shown in the door or its mounting interferes withthe loading or unloading of the car. l l

Preferably a guiding and holding rod 29 is applied to the car wall and sill and prevents the lower portion of the door from swinging outwardly from the wall when the door-s in open or partly open position. Also the rear end of rod 29 serves as a stop for limiting the rearward movement of the door (see Figure 7). While a holding device of this nature would be particularly desirable in a railway car which travels at high speeds and is subject to swaying and other thrusts tending to shift the door laterally of the car, such a device would not be so important for a door mounted on a stationary building.

In all types of doors, and more particularly in railway car doors, it is desirable to provide a weather seal around the door and to this end the depending iiange 3) (Figure 2) of side plate 1 cooperates with a Z bar door header 3| to form a downwardly facing channel which receives the upwardly extending flange 32 of the door top frame member 9.

Similarly the door front post 3 is provided with a weather seal element 33 forming a rearwardly opening channel which receives the forwardly extending flange 34 on Z bar front frame member Il.

`Similar weather seal elements are provided at the rear and bottom edges of the door but the relation between the channel and the flange received thereby is reversed. Weather seal element 35 mounted on the door rear frame member l2 forms a forwardly opening channel which receives a rearwardly extending flange 36 on the door rear post 3. An angle 31 on the bottom of iloor 2 cooperates with side sill I to form a downwardly opening channel which receives an upwardly extending flange 38 projecting from the door bottom frame member I9. As the door is swung into closed position each of the channels receives a cooperating iiange member `to form a weather seal.

Figures 1 and 5 illustrate a closing, locking and releasing mechanism comprising a lever 39 pivoted at iiD to a bracket il on the car body and pivotally mounting a link 42 having a jaw adapted to engage a shouldered pin 43 on the door. With the door in the position shown in Figure 5, link 42 is slipped over pin 43 and lever 39 rotated in anti-clockwise direction to the position shown in Figure 1 in which link 42 has been actuated to close the door tightly, link 42 and the shorter arm of the lever forming a toggle joint in which the direction of pull is through the lever pivot 4B. A locking dog 44 may be moved into position over an opposing shoulder 65 on lever 39 and the usual car seal element (not shown) may Figure 8, the action of the spring will tend to facilitate the further movement of the door to theposition shown in full lines in Figure 7 or to the position shown in broken lines in Figure 7.

Figures 9 and 10 illustrate another form of the invention in which the relation between the hinge pivot B0 and the pivot 6l for the balancing arm 82 is reversed from the position in the previous figures. As a result movement of the door to a half-way open position will be accompanied by the expansion of spring 63. In other words the spring is under greatest compression when the door is half open and there will be a tendency of the spring to hold the door in closed position when the locking structure 64 is released and to hold the door 4in open position when the holding structure 65 is released,

Figures 1l to 15 illustrate another form of the Y invention in which the door is pivotally supported at its lower right hand corner through its bracket '0 pivotally connected to a bracket 1| on the car body. The balancing arm 12 extends upwardly and forwardly to pivotally connect with bracket 13 at the middle of the door through a yielding structure including spring 14.

As the door must swing upwardly and rearwardly, it is necessary to rearrange the locking and tightening mechanism. The lever T5 pivoted at 1B tothe oar body has an arm Tl arranged to engage a pawl 18 pivoted at 19 to the door. `Such engagement having been effected when the door approaches its closed position, clockwise movement of lever 15 will pull the door tightly against its seating elements and the lever, and door, may be locked in this position by dog 3U. The lever and dog have opposing shoulders 8| apertured to receive the usual car seal.

In this construction the door holding or guiding member is'formed'by a Z shaped bar 82 secured to the car wall, there being a cooperating Z 83 on the inner face of the door.

IThe forward and rear edges of the door and the adjacent wall edges have weather seal elements as shown in Figure 3 but the weather seal at top .and bottom of the door must differ from that previously described because of the different relations of the door top and bottom edges as the door swings to and from closed position.

To this end the side sill 84, Z bar 84a and the threshold plate 85 form an upwardly Vfacing pocket or trough to receive the downwardly eX- tending elements 86 on the door. Similarly, the side plate 81 and a member 88 thereon form an upwardly facing pocket or trough to receive the downturned ange of the Z bar 89 comprising the door top edging.

These troughs would barile cturents of air and matter carried thereby and moving inwardly of the door and water could drain off at the ends of the troughs and clear of the front and rear edgings.

Figures 16 and 17 show another form of the invention in which the balancing arm 90 swings from a pivot 9| which travels longitudinally of the car relative to the pivot pin 92 connecting the door bracket 93 and the wall bracket 94. Pivot 9| is carried by rollers 95 seated on arcuate tracks 96 mounted on the car wall and extending forwardly and rearwardly of pivot pin 92.

This arrangement gives the balancing arm an eiective pivot point located at P which is a substantially greater distance from pivot pin 92 than is present in the form previously described. It would be impossible to provide a car body with a pivot point at P due to clearance restrictions which would prevent the use of an upstandlng bracket of suiicient size to provide a pivot at this elevated point. Such a bracket would not pass through the average railway tunnel.

This arrangement would provide increased tension on the spring from either end of the door movement to the intermediate position and therefore balance the door throughout the full door opening and closing operations.

In each form of the invention the door is supported in closed and in open position from a plurality of points thereby providing for stable mounting of the door. At the same time the door is moved about a pivot instead of being moved bodily on rollers or hangers as is customary with doors of this type, and such pivotal movement will be more readily eiective than the sliding, rolling or lifting movement.

It Will be understood that details of the structure may be changed substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of such modifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a frame defining a door opening, a. door for closing the same, a hingelike device pivotally connected to one corner of said door and to the adjacent portion of said frame, a telescoping member pivotally connected to the middle part of said door and to said frame, said device and member mounting the door soit may tilt in its general plane to move from open to closed position, and said telescoping member including yielding means tending to thrust the door towards a selected position.

2. In combination, a door frame defining a door opening, a door for closing the same, a door mounting comprising a bracket attached to said frame and an arm attached to said door, said bracket and .arm having a pin and slot pivotal connection, and an elongated member arranged for attachment to said frame adjacent to said bracket and to a part of said door spaced substantially from said arm, said door being tiltable in its general plane about said pivotal connection, said elongated member extending at one side of said pivotal connection when said door is in closed position and extending at the opposite side of said pivotal connection when said door is in open position.

3. In combination with a frame defining a door opening .and a door for closing the same, a hingelike bracket projecting from one corner of the door and a pivot for the same on the frame, an elongated member pivotally connected to the middle part of said door and to a point on said frame spaced above said bracket pivot, said bracket and member cooperating to support said door in closed position and providing for pivotal movement of said door in itsgeneral plane about said bracket pivot between open and closed positions. j'

FREDERIC J. HERTER. 

